Tag Archives: CRT

There is demonstration to demand that the Canal and River Trust (CRT) stops evicting or threatening to evict travelling boat dwellers based on their pattern of travel or distance traveled. It is also to stop the reduction of the 14 day rule, to stop the sale of our waterways and to demand the maintenance of the waterway banks, to install more mooring rings and more facilities.

On the Saturday 16 April at 12.30am in Central London, Gower Street / Euston Road, London NW1

Boats Are Homes – Towpath Gathering April 2015

For more info read on.

It’s coming up to a year since Canal & River Trust (CRT) rolled out its policy of refusing to renew or shortening the licence periods of boaters without permanent moorings who CRT deem not to have travelled in the ‘correct’ manner. Many in our community have been affected by the threat of losing our homes and some boat dwellers have already been evicted by CRT.

CRT has not just gone after boaters who have travelled in a very small area. CRT has also shortened or refused to renew the licences of boat dwellers who have travelled up to 100 miles. It seems CRT’s aim is to get rid of a certain number of boat dwellers without a home mooring and they are not too bothered about who they get rid of.

There is already a law that states we mustn’t stay longer than 14 days in one place. We don’t need CRT making up unlawful extra ‘rules’. We must step up the campaign to stop CRT restricting or refusing to renew the licences of boaters whose travelling pattern is completely lawful.

In addition to this, CRT has reduced the stay times in some areas from 14 days to as little as 24 hours. They have concreted over canal banks making it impossible to moor in large areas of London and other urban areas, have failed to maintain the canal bank and in some cases CRT even plan to sell off stretches of waterway contrary to assurances given to Parliament in 2012.

CRT made a surplus of £39.4 million in 2014/15 and hold a reserve fund of £660 million. CRT can easily afford to install more facilities for boaters and repair waterway banks that are currently impossible to moor on. Instead, CRT has taken away or failed to repair water taps, sewage and rubbish disposal facilities.

Boat dwellers will be joining the People Assembly demo which one key demand is for housing on 16th April 2016 to demonstrate that our community deserves better. We will not be alone. We will march with others demanding decent housing. We will hand in a petition to Parliament demanding that the Government pressures CRT to stop its attack on boat dwellers without a home mooring.

We plan to take a picture of all the boat dwellers on the march to bring to another demonstration at CRT offices a few weeks after. We demand:

For those of you who live on Canal & River Trust waterways, BBC Inside Out South and Hardcash Productions want to hear from boaters without home moorings who have been refused a 12-month licence or who are affected by CRT’s new policy.

BBC Inside Out South is doing a feature on CRT’s new policy for boaters without home moorings. The producer has contacted the NBTA because they want to speak to any liveaboard boaters in their area (temporarily or permanently) who are affected by this, especially if you have been refused a 12-month licence in circumstances where your licence has been renewed without question for a number of years previously and you’ve had the same cruising pattern each year.

The areas that BBC Inside Out South covers where there are CRT waterways are Oxford, Berkshire and south east Wiltshire (it also covers Surrey, Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight). The programme is 30 minutes with three 10-minute reports. It is a weekly current affairs programme that looks behind the headlines. They are looking to film in July or August and this will be broadcast in September on a Monday evening at 7.30pm on BBC1.

Hardcash Productions are making a documentary for BBC or Channel 4 on how the new policy is affecting boaters. They are also looking for boat dwellers to interview. These are the kind of people they would like to interview:

1) People who are soon to have their licence renewed (next two months) and are worried whether it will be renewed.

2) Anyone involved in a court case with CRT.

3) People who have been on the receiving end of enforcement letters, which have made them anxious and where they dispute what is in the letters or had an altercation with enforcement officers.

4) People due to or thinking about moving onto land, or have already moved onto land, either voluntarily (as felt under too much pressure) or because they were evicted.

6) A family who live on the canals with young kids and could show how hard it is to keep moving.

7) Someone who is elderly or otherwise vulnerable because of disability or physical or mental ill-health – how are they coping with all the stress?

If you are interested in being filmed by either BBC or Hardcash, please contact the NBTA: secretariat@bargee-traveller.org.uk or 0118 321 4128 – ideally THIS WEEK (by 17th July 2015) please if possible – and we will pass your details on.